Arlington County, VA Landscaping Rules: Tree Removal & Heritage Trees (2026)

Section 67-5 of the County Code bars anyone, including a utility company's employees or contractors, from destroying, cutting down, girdling, breaking, bending, wounding, or otherwise injuring or removing a tree or shrub on a public right-of-way, other County-owned public land, or a public vehicular or pedestrian easement the County maintains, without the County Manager's written permission. A violation is a Class 3 misdemeanor. Before granting permission the County Manager must determine the proposed removal is necessary or desirable and not contrary to County tree policy; the approval itself must be a writing naming the specific tree or shrub and the duration of the permission, though no written permission is required when County employees, contractors, or agents do the removal.

As a condition of approval, the applicant must either replace the removed tree or shrub at a rate and with guaranties matching the County's tree guidelines within one year, or immediately pay the County the tree's full value, at the County Manager's option; the same replace-or-pay choice applies if an unspecified tree or shrub is destroyed or injured during the work. Full value is calculated using appraisal methods from the Council of Tree and Landscape Appraisers, published in the International Society of Arboriculture's Guide for Plant Appraisal.

This permit requirement is limited to trees on public property; § 67-9 exempts "activities with minor effects on trees, including but not limited to home gardening and landscaping of individual homes," so removing a tree from a private residential yard falls outside Chapter 67 entirely, absent a separate heritage, memorial, specimen, or street tree designation under Article III.